This invention relates to knitting needles with a flexible cord, and more particularly to improvement in the knitting needles of such particular type that has a flexible cord extended from the tapered rear end of an elongated, rigid needle shaft or body made of bamboo or wood.
As such particular type of knitting needles as having a flexible cord connected thereto, two typical models have heretofore been proposed; one being a circular type knitting needle which has a pair of metallic or plastic rigid needle bodies joined by a flexible middle cord, as illustrated in FIG. 1, and another being a non-circular type knitting needle which includes a single metallic or plastic rigid needle body and a flexible cord connected at its one end to the rear end of the needle body wherein a stich stop is slidably or fixedly mounted on a free end of the flexible cord in order to prevent stitches or loops of yarn from slipping off the flexible cord, as illustrated in FIG. 2.
In the described two types of knitting nedles with a flexible cord, it is necessary to provide means for connecting the flexible cord to a rear end of the rigid needle body. a typical conventional connecting means for that purpose is disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 2,096,483 to Cook, in which a flexible cord is inserted into a cylindrical hollow space of a metallic needle body and fastened thereto by a suitable adhesive. Another conventional connecting means is disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 1,999,691 to Graham, in which a flexible cord is provided with a threaded end section, which is screwed into an internally threaded bore formed in a rear end of a metallic needle body for connecting the flexible cord to the needle body by threads.
The flexible cord may be slidably or rotatably connected to a rear end of a needle body as disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 2,309,528 to Otting et al and U.S. Pat. No. 2,102,600 to Miller.
Conventinally, the rigid needle body to which the flexible cord is connected is usually made of metal or rigid plastic material (not often), and the rear end section of the needle body shall be tapered to smoothly merge with the connecting end of the flexible cord. Naturally, the wall thickness of the rear terminal end of the needle body flexible cord is reduced to its possible minimum degree so as to provide smoothly continuous, flush external surfaces at the joints between the needle body and the flexible cord. In this connection, if a step or diametrical difference exists at the joints, a stitch or loop of yarn is prevented from freely passing over the joints, and as a result, desired efficient and comfortable knitting operation cannot be expected.
In addition to the above mentioned metallic or rigid plastic needle body, bamboo-made or wooden needle bodies have recently been proposed in the markets because of their good natural properties that they are pleasant to touch in use and permit a good relative sliding with respect to stiches or loops of yarn carried thereon. However, the proposed bamboo-made or wooden needle bodies have a fatal disadvantage in that they are fragile in nature and easily broken or damaged at the joints between the needle body and the flexible cord, more particularly, at the diametrically reduced and thin-walled marginal edge of the rear terminal end of the needle body in which the axial bore for insertion of the flexible cord end is formed to provide an opening mouth.
Further, none of the methods for connecting the flexible cord with the rear end of the needle body as disclosed in the above discussed U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,999,691, 2,309,528 and 2,102,600 are applicable to the bamboo-made or wooden needle bodies.
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to substantially reduce the above-discussed problems inherent to bamboo-made or wooden knitting needles with a flexible cord.
Another object of the invention is to improve durability of a bamboo-made or wooden knitting needles with a flexible cord and to put them to practical use by making the best use of excellent natural properties inherent to bamboo or wood.
A further object of the invention is to provide an improved knitting needle with a flexible cord, in which a bamboo-made or wooden needle body is diametrically reduced at its rear end to merge with the flexible cord without inviting a problem of easy damage or breakage at the joints between the needle body and the flexible cord.
A still further object of the invention is to provide an improved knitting needle with a flexible cord, in which means is provided for preventing local concentration of bending strains to the joints between the needle body and the flexible cord during operation.
Other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description given hereinafter; it should be understood, however, that the detailed description and specific examples, while indicating preferred embodiments of the invention, are given by way of illustration only, since various changes and modifications wihin the spirit and scope of the invention will become obvious to those skilled in the art from this detailed description.
According to the present invention, there is provided a knitting needle with a flexible cord which includes at least one rigid needle body made of bamboo or wood whose rear end is formed with an axial bore therein and diametrically reduced to be thin-walled, a flexible cord having an integral axial extension which extends axially forwardly from a conical enlargement formed therewith, and a rigid tubular member disposed within the axial bore formed in the needle body end for receiving the axial extension of the flexible cord therein when they are connected together.